Archive

Tis the season, and RT has a lot to choose from this year; in fact, he’s overwhelmed by his output in the first half of the year. Count ’em, baby, count ’em: 138 posts in January and February 2013 alone! With such an abundance to choose from, RT has thought it wise to offer a selection from the year’s first two months by itself, then move farther into the year in his next post. He’s got a range of material, and hopes everyone enjoys his choices! RT

Surely, in a parallel universe somewhere, RT is a top-drawer nature photographer who takes breaks to shoot amazing architecture in the big cities and work on creative book design projects. The eye is neighbor to the heart, at least in men.

These reflections are by way of saying that RT has been spending a lot of time on Pinterest, the photo-sharing web site that has attracted users all over the globe. (And for the record, this post was inspired by a pin of a red-on-red portrait that reminded RT of the sheer gorgeousness art is capable of.) Be that as it may, RT suspects he has been spending too much time on Pinterest. Gilgameshand A Daughter’s Song and Dance both are patiently awaiting their latest round of corrections; Mechanical Turk and other crowdsourcing sites are ripe for further work and exploration; and, hey, what about taking a break and getting out in the beautiful, if brisk, autumn air? And, come to think of it, RT has gotten locked out of his Yahoo account because of some mix-up over his password. So why the tomfoolery with beautiful pictures?

RT is pretty sure that one of the reasons for Pinterest’s success is the lack of beauty in everyday life, or at least for most of us. Walking past a large box store the other day, one that had gravel strewn in front of its nondescript exterior in lieu of a lawn, RT was forcefully reminded of how ugly public life has become. Convenient, serviceable, yes. But beautiful? Almost never.

In a world starved for beauty, Pinterest is an oasis devoted to pleasing the eye. No cruddy compromises here, just the best photographs by talented photographers, famous or not. Not to mention great historical photographs. And if you are a WP blogger, the site is a treasure trove of ideas for new posts. Plus you can pin images from your blog (something that RT needs to catch up on). So what’s the problem?

RT wouldn’t say that Pinterest offers eye-candy (though some of that is to be found on the site). What worries RT is that Pinterest has very little to do with the day-to-day or ordinary; there is always something special about the subject. One of the ways that art contributes to our life, and perhaps the main way it helps us, is by finding beauty in the ordinary, or even in the apparently ugly. Graffiti, the faded and peeling side of an old house, a familiar skyline made arresting by being captured from an unusual angle–all these things help us see the intrinsic beauty of the world. And if the artwork is spontaneous, a discovery made on the spot, then so much the better. We can all hope to experience something similar in our routine.

Pinterest of course contains such visual material, but in RT’s experience, not enough of it. Maybe each member should be required to submit a certain number of images that he or she has made. It might help reintroduce each of us to ourselves. (And maybe RT should be pinning more images that meet his standards.)

We search for meaning in the ordinary; perhaps we should be searching for beauty, too. Dare we rediscover the poetry of the world our eyes and minds shut out?

RT has double-checked: his post After Sappho is the Rag Tree’s official post #1000, according to WordPress.

RT is amazed he’s gotten this far with the blog; he remembers his first few tentative postings, all without images, and the many wonderful things and superb people he has encountered since those days. He is developing further thoughts on what to do with this blog, most prominently, moving onto WordPress.Org. Money is still tight, however, and he is biding his time.

By way of thank you to his loyal readers, RT lists some of them below. These folks have stuck with him through the blogging ups and downs he has negotiated over the past three years:

Sometimes being a writer leads to perplexities. In RT’s case, he has several projects going at once: 1) Gilgamesh; 2) A Daughter’s Song and Dance (his mother’s childhood memoirs); 3) The Rag Tree; 4) and sundry other occasional preoccupations, at least one of which might end up being very important. Now, the logical approach to all this would be to choose one item, concentrate on finishing it, and then proceed down the list until all of the work has been done. But RT is coming to the realization that he doesn’t work like this.

RT’s modus operandi appears to be working on one of the projects (usually Gilgamesh, but sometimes one of the others) for extended periods of time, at the end of which he picks another of the projects and works on it for a while. The Rag Tree is a special case, exercising its siren call every time RT logs onto the Net–and posting regularly is the blogger’s cardinal virtue.

And then there are the gremlins that like to show up–a new biography of Van Gogh, an incomplete or prospective “quick” translation lying around, and those all-too-familiar but regular and required real-world encounters, like paying the rent.

RT’s conclusion about the unscheduled mess? He likes it. He doesn’t know how or if he can resolve his lack of a fixed agenda, but he feels that it’s wise at least to be honest about his preferences. As far as his departure from Standard Operating Practice, he will say, in our work life, don’t we have a right to pursue more than one obsession at a time? RT knows that this is hardly an efficient approach to doing things, but what is the ROI for love? Or death?

This is all by way of preamble to saying that the last week or so RT has been working on his mom’s memoirs, and he is particularly pleased with the section on the 1939 NYC World’s Fair, with its Dalecarlian Horse (not as large as the one in the photo above) and its many other sights and experiences. He has reached page 150 and thinks that the completed book will probably be around 250 pages. Life is full of surprises and unexpected beauty–and quandries. RT

RT sat down at the computer table today and realized it has been some time since he cruised the net looking for new blogs and web sites. So he spent thirty or so minutes doing just that, first giving himself a list of topics to search on. The links below will guide readers to something a little different (for RT, anyway). Enjoy the discoveries!

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1. Writer Adept. (topic: flash fiction). RT has never attempted flash fiction before; here is a fine guest-post by FF writer Alissa Leonard relating her experiences with the form and linking to two pieces of her flash fiction, one written with a 500-word limit, the other with a 55-word limit (whoa!).

2. Six Sisters’ Stuff. (topic: dessert). OK, RT, what with his sweet tooth and all, has been known to post on desserts. On the other hand, this dessert looks pretty yummy…

3. Fencing Net. Well, RT has never shown too much interest in the big sports, but since middle-school he’s harbored a secret desire to learn how to fence. Anyway, this site looks like a good place to beginning learning something about this poetic past-time. En Garde!

4. Leftbrainwrite. (topic: grammar). The Dragons of Grammar haven’t been totally derelict these last few weeks–here’s their contribution, offering a professional editor’s take on how to use grammar.

5. Belgian Pearls. (topic: pearls). From a literal point of view, no pearls here, just some reflections from a life lived large.